UAE - JAFZA posts 17% Jump in New Companies in 2014

May 7, 2015

United Arab Emirates, Dubai, May 3rd, 2015 - Jebel Ali Free Zone, JAFZA, the flagship Free Zone of Dubai and trade and logistics hub for the wider Middle East region, has seen an increase of 17% in the number of new companies in 2014 compared to the previous year.

The Free Zone has also posted a 10% surge in its revenues for the year ended 31st December 2014. The operating profit of the company rose by more than 13% to AED 1.18 billion during the year.

Salma Hareb, CEO of JAFZA and Economic Zones World said “JAFZA’s impressive growth in 2014 can be attributed to its focus on attracting quality investments into the Free Zone in key sectors, prudent use of resources and achieving greater operational efficiency for itself also for JAFZA based companies by introducing new innovative products and initiatives.”

JAFZA has contributed more than 20% to Dubai’s GDP in 2013. The Free Zone sustained more than 200,000 jobs in Dubai in 2014. The Free Zone companies account for almost half of Dubai’s total non-oil exports and a quarter of the Emirates’ total non-oil trade. In 2014 JAZFA companies are estimated to have generated trade worth AED 370 billion. JAFZA accounts for more than 75% of the total trade generated by all the free zones together in Dubai.

Asia Pacific continued to dominate JAFZA’s new investor profile in 2014 as 29% of the new companies came from Asia Pacific. The Americas and Europe together accounted for 27% of the new investors in JAFZA. In terms of individual countries, 14% of the new companies are from India, 6% from China and 8% from the US and UK combined.

JAFZA continued to focus on promoting huge business opportunities that Dubai and the rapidly growing economics in the wider Middle East region offer to global investors interested in these hugely attractive markets. JAFZA conducted road shows and business seminars in more than 14 countries with the aim to explore opportunities in prospective markets.

The Free Zone signed four Memorandums of Understanding with various business development and financial institutions in Brazil, Japan and Germany, under the terms of which these institutions will highlight huge opportunities in the UAE and the wider Middle East region and JAFZA’s status as the trade and logistics hub for the entire region while showcasing the Free Zone’s key offerings that enable JAFZA based companies to serve all regional markets with unmatched efficiency.

JAFZA won several prestigious awards in 2014 for its distinctive achievements. The UK based Financial Times’ fDi magazine awarded JAFZA the Global Free Zone of the Year 2014 for Large Companies. The magazine had recognised JAZFA Free Zone of the Year 2014 Large Tenants Middle East and North Africa. JAFZA also won the prestigious Sheikh Khalifa Excellence Award in the Diamond category in 2014.

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